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Hundreds take part in ‘petta thullal’

ERUMELI: Hundreds of persons participated in the ceremonial religious ‘petta thullal’ at Erumeli on Friday taking the Sabarimala pilgrim season into its last lap.

For the past few days, the usually sleepy town had witnessed an unprecedented rush of pilgrims who were on their way to the Sannidhanam to participate in the Makaravilakku festival.

But Friday was special, with teams from Ambalappuzha and Alangad arriving for the ceremonial religious dance that would take them to the Sannidhanam ensuring their special place in the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

The day started off on a low key but as the day progressed, the ‘thullal’ by other pilgrims reached a frenzy. By 12.45 p.m., came a Krishna Parunthu (kite) on the sky flying over the Kochambalam in rounds and the Ambalappuzha team commenced their religious dance reminiscent of the victory of good over evil, in the centuries-old fight of Lord Ayyappa and his trusted lieutenant Vavar, against the evil incarnate Mahishi.

The 300-strong team led by Kalathil Chandrasekharan Nair had been waiting for the moment for the past many days ever since they had started their journey from Amabalappuzha on January 7.

The slow paced ‘thullal’ soon entered a more frenzied lap and moved to the Nainaar Mosque (Vavar Palli) built to pay obeisance to Lord Ayyappa’s trusted Muslim commander.

The team was received by the Jama-at leaders with floral offerings and administering sandal paste on the foreheads of the Ayyappa devotees.

The ‘thidambu’ carried by the team on a caparisoned elephant was taken around the mosque and they, later, danced their way to the Valiambalam nearly a km away.

They were received by the temple authorities and representatives of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) at the gates of the temple with traditional religious gaiety.

The ‘thullal’ by Alangad team commenced at the Kochambalam in the afternoon after sighting a star in the sky. They too danced to the Valiambalam but did not enter the mosque.

Both the teams would move to Pamba through the traditional forest path to participate in the Pamba Sadya and from there to the Sannidhanam to participate in Makaravilakku.

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